3 Stars: Jimmy Forbes

Jimmy Forbes is a fourth year Mechanical Engineering major, student in the Honors Program and three-year captain of the RIT Men’s Soccer team. Forbes accomplished the rare feat of being chosen as a captain after only one year on the team once his coaches identified his leadership potential. Men’s Soccer Head Coach Bill Garno said he chose Forbes as a captain because of his work ethic and commitment to the team’s success.

Over the past four years, RIT’s defense has let in less than one goal per game, on average. Forbes made this possible with solid play as a starting defender in most of those games – with the exception of a few games this year, due to injury.

Besides being a part of the defense, Forbes has scored eight career goals – quite a feat for a defender. Garno spoke highly of Forbes’ ball skills, his physical and mental playing ability and especially his work ethic. When defending his team’s net, “Jimmy did that with every ounce of energy in his body,” said Garno.

“Jimmy’s been one of the cornerstones of our program since he got here four years ago,” said Garno. He’s not just referring to Forbes’ on-field performance: “Jimmy cares about his teammates and his team and tries to do everything he can to help us be successful. That’s just [who he is].”

The success that Forbes remembers most fondly is when his team made it to the Liberty League Championship in 2011, their first year as a part of the Liberty League. He explained that the team surpassed everyone’s expectations and proved that they deserved to be part of the league.

For Forbes, soccer serves as a break from work. “Soccer is the release, [where I am] putting behind social life and school life and everything else and just enjoying myself,” said Forbes.

Between taking every leadership class RIT offers and representing the Men’s Soccer team in the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Forbes has developed visible leadership abilities. “Jimmy’s not afraid to lead people, whether it be vocally, through his play or an awful lot of things he did off the field with our community [events],” said Garno. “We’ll have to find somebody else to try and step in, but it’ll be hard to impossible to replace him.”